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Close to Home/Phethoho News

Phethoho News is a bilingual Small Commercial publication, full-colour tabloid newspaper which was first published in 2008 with a content breakdown of 60% Sesotho and 40% English. The company has tapped into a neglected niche market Sesotho-speaking communities and turned it around for lucrative business. The project distributes 15 000 copies per month in the Thabo Mofutsanyane District Municipality, since there are no other black-owned newspapers covering the area which is predominantly Sesotho-speaking. The newspaper is used as a developmental tool that disseminates information that serves different purposes to communities.

The publication carries news about career guidance, lifestyle, and health issues as well as encouraging a culture of reading and addressing the imbalances of information flow within the Thabo Mofutsanyane District Municipality where the majority (82%) of the community speaks Sesotho. The project also promotes pride in the Sesotho language and culture and thus, restores the human values of the population within the Municipality.

The project is in line with the Media Development and Diversity mandate which seeks to promote ownership of media by historically disadvantaged communities, as stipulated in section 3 (i) of the Media Development and Diversity Act 2002. The project prides itself on being able to create a strategic partnership with local community radio stations, Setsoto FM, which covers Ficksburg, as well as Dihlabeng FM, and QwaQwa FM. The strategic partnership with local community radio stations allows Phethoho News access to live slots where marketing the newspaper happens live on Radio. The newspaper then conversely offers a quarter of a page to market radio activities in every issue. The newspaper also works with various organisations including NGOs and political parties to spread important information about events and other community activities.

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